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The Missile Technology Initiative undertaken by Government of India

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The Missile Technology Initiative undertaken by Government of India!

DRDO is the nodal agency for conducting defense research in India. It was established in 1958. In July 27 1983, DRDO launched an ambitious programme named IGMDP for the development of 5 different missiles i.e., Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash and Nag. The only missiles under IGMDP to be successfully inducted into Armed forces till now are

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a. Prithvi ballistic missiles with a strikes range of 150 to 350 km.

b. The Agni I (700 to 800 km) meant primarily for Pakistan.

c. Agni II (2000km plus) which can target western China at best.

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The Agni programme has now reached its third missile, Agni-III, which is an intermediate range ballistic missile. Agni-III, despite being successfully tested, is still not operational. Agni-III is capable of carrying nuclear warheads and striking targets upto 3500 kilometers.

Akash is a surface to air missile with a range of 60 kilometers. Nag is a fire-and-forget anti-tank missile, with a 5-7 kilometer range. Trishul is a short-range surface-to-air missile, with a 9-kilometre range.

Developed in collaboration with Russia BrahMos, is a supersonic cruise missile which has a range of 290 kilometers.

A Submarine launched or sea launched Ballistic Missile Sagarika has been inducted into the armed forces. Sagarika has a range of 1000 km and can carry a payload of about 500 kg.

Prahaar is a single stage, solid propellant missile. Its payload carrying capacity is 200 Kg and target range is 150 km.

Indian defence scientists have taken up a new cruise missile development programme. The missile named Nirbhay (The Fearless) will have a range of 1000 km, travel at 0.7 Mach (nearly 840kmph) and would be capable of delivering 24 different types of warheads.

The Shaurya surface-to-surface missiles, with a range of 750-1900 kilometers, can remain hidden in underground silos from enemy surveillance till they are fired.